Hanging on the tro tro

http://s403.photobucket.com/albums/pp114/koochfive/Ghana08/



From this point on, please go to the above address to see pictures from ghana. For some reason, this computer I am on has problems with us uploading pictures to the site. I figure that people want to see more than one or two pictures, so please use that address to find them.



Sorry I didn't write in the blog yesterday. The day kind of got away from us, and by the time i got home, i was real tired.



We went to Makola Market yesterday. It was, needless to say, and experience like no other. Maokola is the outdoor market in downtown accra. It is is the busiest, crowdiest, most aromatic (both positive and negative) place i have ever been to in my entire life.



we took a cab down there- the "walk by faith not by sight" cab. Quite interesting. the cabbie thought it well to text while he was driving us there. Mind you, there are no stop signs or lights and potholes everywhere. I encouraged him to stop in my own special Matt way, and oddly enough he stopped and kept both hands at 10 and 2.



He dropped us off just outside the market and we walked on the side of the road towards the more populated area. I wish i could adequatley describe what this was like. Picture a sidewalk covered with merchants selling everything from soap to cow hoofs as thick as you can see, and then picture 2 heavy streams of people walking opposite directions on the same side of the street next to the curb, between the curb and cars. That was us. Car zooming by on one side, and no escape on the other. I think corb and I were the only ones who were apprehensive as people were weaving in and out and running between cars. THERE WAS SO MANY PEOPLE IT WAS CRAZY.



every where we went they called us "white man" and "broonie" and wanted to touch us and talk to us. They were selling shoes and belts and soap and chicken heads. SHOPS and SHOPS and PEOPLE and PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. It was like trying to push your way to the front of the line at an amusement park. Hot sweaty people everywhere. Trash on the walkways, water and other stuff oozing about. Pungent smells coming at you from all directions. And hotter than a texas outhouse on summer afternoon. Words honestly cant describe this. We must have walked for a good 2 hours and it never ended. we weaved through small corridors and walkways. Inside and outside, across streets, through traffic. It was mesmerizing. Then, to top it all off, our friend Kumi who was with us says, "you should come when its busy" ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I cant even imagine.



While we were there we ate fresh coconut from a street vendor. He cracks it open, you drink the juice and then eat the inside. Quite good for about 30 cents. Then we ate some fried bread thing that girls carry around in boxes on the top of thier heads. it was good.



We visited a memorial to President Kwame who was the president that got Ghana thier independence 50 years ago. It was where he made the declaration of independence, and it is where he is buried. While we were there, we happened to meet the Secretary of State for Papau New Guinea. Of course I asked for a picture and we got one. Pretty cool.



We rode back to the house in a small bus they call a "tro tro". Small bus that seats about 10 people comfortably that they jam about 25 people into. Its hot and sweaty. Part of the experience they say. We went down to the market in the "walk by faith" cab and came home in the "in Jesus Name" Tro Tro.



To end the day, Kumi thought it well to have the tro tro drop us off on the opposite side of the freeway from our house, so we got to run across a 4 lane freeway. Another first.



After getting home, we went to a Lebanese Lifegroup from the church. it was great. had some lebanese food and fellowship. The meeting was awesome! 6 people gave their life to the Lord.



The people here are awesome. Very accepting, and loving. Not thinking about moving here yet, but the people here make you want to stay.



Pray you're doing well. Pray for us. We have another lifegroup tonight, and then I am going to preach tomorrow at a village church. Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to Fall.



God bless you all.



Matt and Corb

Just another day in Ghana

Not really. You know that last thing that you would expect on a sunday morning when a pastor from Ghana picks you up for church that his first question would be "so did you watch the presidental election debate last night on CNN"? Its utterly amazing how connected these people are with America. I would say that most americans dont think about foreigners that often, but it is clear that these people pay very close attention to what we are doing.

Anyway, so the pastor of the Domi Elim Christian Center picked corbett and I up for church this morning. Its about a half hour drive from where we are staying. It was way different than america. There is actually traffic problems on Sunday because people are on their way to church. This nation is very open to Christianity. They have businesses named things like "Jesus King of Glory Hair Saloon" (yes, saloon not salon). "holy ghost fire dumptruck svcs" and "by the grace of God cement blocks' Its quite amusing. Pastor says they sometimes take it to the extreme. he once saw a "holy ghost drinking pub" We're still looking for it so we can take a picture.

The Domi church was an experience. 125+ people in a concrete building with a metal corrugated roof all praising God as loud as you can possibly imagine. It was honestly deafening how loud it was, but boy were they praisin the LORD! It was awesome. They sang some songs we knew like "as the deer' and some other hymn that escapes me right now. Nevertheless, the spirit of the Lord was in that place. They worshipped for a good hour. No AC or nothing, just praising God.

The pastor gave me a good introduction, and then I was able to preach a great message to the people through an interpreter. Different experience than normal, but the spirit of God was moving. Before I began my message, i reminded them that we are family in Christ Jesus. That we would be spending eternity together. You should have seen the smiles. we had an immediate connection. It was so great.

So the preaching went well, and then the Lord led me to do an altar call to pray over people to renew their faith. Loads of people came forward, but there was one guy that really touched my spirit.

Now understand, by this time the worship team was back up at the front of the church, and were playing LOUD- not Faith and Victory Loud, I'm talking like Faith and Victory Turned up all the way would be almost as loud kind of loud. So, I'm screaming in this young mans ear "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM JESUS TODAY?" he said something, but i couldn't hear him, so i repeated it, "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM JESUS TODAY?" he said "I WANT TO BE SMARTER IN SCHOOL". Wow. No xbox, no new house, no I want a car. I want to be smarter in school. Amen we prayed over that guy in Jesus name for the renewing of his mind and it was powerful.

God is moving here. Its quite different than in the states in that the people here serve the Lord with no reservations. They are hungry for the word and excited to serve God with Vigor and enthusiasm. its unlike anything I've ever seen. Its very encouraging.

Corb and I were able to go out into the city a bit today. the people here are so nice. They love to talk to us cause we are "aboonie" which is akin to "gringo" i think, but its not bad. Their real nice. We met these guys and talked to them for like 10 mins about politics and stuff. It was surreal. Great experience.

Tomorrow we dont have anything to do until the night, so the plan is to go to the huge main outdoor market in Accra. It should be sweet.

God Bless you all. Thanks for the prayers. The picture today shoudl be the guys we met in the market.

Thanks to the people who wrote comments. Its nice to know that we're blessing you with these posts.
ps. the picture tonight isnt working for some reason.. i'm frustrated, so i'm going to try it again tomorrow. We coudl post the pics on another site, but they are all 2mb and we dont have a way to shrink them down...

Praise the Lord

Today was fantastic. Pastor Ong had the whole worship team from the international church come to the missionary house for worship practice. What they do is get their whole worship team together once a month to worship. It was awesome. After about an hour of praise and worship I was able to minister to the whole worship team. It was a powerful time of prayer and anointing.

For the evening, we attended the Elim youth group that had about 25 kids show up tonight. I have to tell you.. those kids can WORSHIP. It was powerful! People may think that being a missionary would hurt your family, but if these MKs (missionary kids) are any indication, the impact is positive. These kids were on FIRE for the Lord.

I preached a message about being crucified with Christ and then we had the opportunity to minister to these kids and pray for them. We led one young man in prayer and it was really awesome.

The Kid: I want you guys to pray with me

us: are you saved?

The Kid: I dont know

Us: have you ever asked Jesus into your heart?

The Kid: I did a few years ago, but i really didnt mean it

Us: Do you want to pray today and mean it?

The Kid: Yes, i want to start living for Jesus Christ

POWERFUL! Corb and I prayed with kids to be called into the minsitry and for them to deepen their relationship with Christ. It was so great.

We've only been here a few days, and do you know what is so cool? We are already building friendships. Its remarkable how quickly you can become friends with other people who worship the Lord with you and love one another. Its been great to become a part of this family so quickly.

We're getting ready to bed down. we have 2 services to go to tomorrow. Please continue to pray for us as we minister. We feel your prayers. God is beginning to do miraculous things here, we cant wait to see how He moves.

Here are pictures for today. One of me and corb on the road in front of the house we are staying at and one of me preaching on the porch to the youth group.

Love you all. Leave some comments on the blog. We'd love to answer any questions or at least know people are reading this thing.

Matt and Corb

Welcome To Ghana

"Welcome to Ghana" thats a phrase they use alot around here. I guess it means something akin to "murphy's law' in the sense that there is only so much that you can control. Why am I telling you this? because apparently for some reason this technology is not working well with us. So, you're going to be waiting a day or so for us to get some pics up on this blog. The computer is not cooperating tonight.

Beautiful day today. We met with Pastor Raymond from the Ghanian Church today. I am going to be preaching at his church this sunday, so i think that he wanted to check me out before I got there sunday. I think i passed the test, or at least he and I connected well. I am excited at the prospect of preaching at a church where there are about 150 people that are all from Ghana. It will be a great experience.

Corbett and I have been struggling a bit with the "why' that we're here. Its interesting. When God calls you to something, or somewhere you inevitably start to make up how it will look in your mind. (wow- as I was typing some pictures magically appeared in my blog.. so it looks like you'll see some-welcome to Ghana!). What God calls you to do usually does not work out the way that you have planned it in your own mind. I guess i figured that we would come here and be doing street ministry and casting out the demons of Ghana in televised crusades or something. It is very clear that we have a mission here to minister to the missionaries that are here, and the Ghanians that support them. Like most people in ministry, they get bogged down and lose vision. When someone comes in from the outside, they are able to rejuvinate them with a fresh anointing because they are not in their situation. We are seeing God begin to move in the midst of these relationships. There are meetings coming up over the next few days. We are excited to see how they turn out.

So the picture- these are four guys who work for the church. 2 of them live full time at the ministry house, the other two kind of come and go. This is what is cool- here, in Ghana when you get saved, you choose a Christian Name, so these guys usually pic a name that will mean something powerful and very American. Their names are- Kennedy Kumi, Daniel Gates (after bill), Evans Walton( after sam walton) and get this, Abraham Lincoln. How awesome is that?

The people here dont have much material possessions, but where they are living in abundance is in the Joy of serving the Lord and living for His Glory. Its actually quite humbling to see someone who has nothing, live with such joy and a servants heart. There are alot of people who are very spoiled that would be devastated to live as these people live. They minister to us. They put God first and really dont seem to care about what they dont have, because they have eachother and to them, its all they need.

God bless you all. More tomorrow.

Matt, Corb and Pastor Ong.

Umm yea, so its still hot

praise the Lord. Today was glorious. Got about 10 hrs sleep last night which was awesome. I really dont think i'm feeling the effects of any jet lag.

Today was really a recuperation day, in that there wasn't much planned. We woke up to about 85 degree weather and spent some time fellowshipping with the missionaries that we are staying with, and thier full time workers, yes missionaries here have full time paid staff to assist them. It may seem odd to you, but i guess culturally, the locals expect that if you are here as a missionary you should support the local economy by having paid staff. Mind you, its not that much. The full time driver/personal assistant makes 100USD a month. not a ton of money considering what this guy does. His name is Kumi, and he is a really great guy. he loves the Lord, but the reality is that for a HS educated man here, there is next to nothing as far as jobs are concerned, so he is pleased to have this job.

Kumi took us to the local market, which was just like an american market, except very expensive. One box of rice crispies was about 6 dollars. Can of nuts, 12 dollars, so it looks like the bulk of Corb an I's food is going to consist of peanut butter and crackers, peanut butter and cookies, and peanut butter and ramen. Which is fine.

You would be amazed at how many people there are around the city. Most of whom are walking or riding a bicycle. Every street has people selling everything from clocks to socks. You can get bootleg dvds here also. 42, (I'm being serious here) movies on one DVD. They have one you can buy that have every Arnold and Sly movie on the same disc. The country is quite divided in that it is very clear that there are those that are haves, and have-nots. Not a real solid middle class. It is great that their culture is such that even though i may look different than about 99 percent of whom i have met, they are all real nice and polite. I've already met some very nice people.

I did find out some interesting information today that might excite some of you. Apparently the Freshman Senator from the State of Illinois has a slight following here. They have songs about him written on the radio and T-shirts with his face on it. Quite interesting. I haven't really seen much George Bush or John McCain items, but I can only assume that they are either in the planning stages, or they have already sold out. Either way, quite interesting.

Tonight we went to a home fellowship group. There were about 14 people there that were literally from all over the world. South Africa, Kenya, Jamaica. It was cool. This should make you laugh- i had been there about 15 mins when this lady Estelle showed up and introduced herself to me and said "I know your wife, I've seen her on Facebook"! I wont go into the long explanation how, as much as it made me laugh to think that even on the other side of the planet, the power of Facebook continues to amaze me. Go figure.

The meeting was awesome. We had time of praise and worship and a lesson from the book of proverbs about the proper friendships that we should have. It was refreshing to fellowship with some other Christians from another country. They sang the same songs, had the same spirit and the same struggles we all deal with. Only with God can you walk into a room of strangers and be instant family because of the common bond of Christ. It was fantastic.

Well, i'm going to shut it down for the night. I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow.

Remember: God is faithful. He will never give you more than you can handle.

ps. dont get mad about my spelling-im not speeel chekkin

WE ARE HERE

Okay, so now I know why they call it "Africa Hot" This is a muggy sticky hot. Think Missouri on Steroids.

Just wanted to drop a line and let you know that the connection is up and that we are here in GHANA. We left seattle and flew to Amsterdam. Uneventful flight, except we had a nice movie viewer in the back of the seat in front of us, so we watched some movies.

When we got to amsterdam, it was morning, so of course we got some breakfast, at the place of all places, MC DONALDS. I know, leave it to me to go around the world to go eat at MCD. It was different though, you get a croissant with your breakfast.

Got into ghana a few hours ago. Kumi was there to meet us, and was very excited.

I've been up for about 33 hrs, so I'm going to go to bed, but wanted to send at least one before I go to bed.

God's hand has been with us. No problems to report. Our spirits are high and we are excited to start to minister. Please remember to pray for us.

God Bless you

matt and corb and pastor ong.

Today is the Day!

so... here we go! Its been quite a few months in the planning, and the day of departure has finally arrived. I slept great last night, which to me seemed odd, since I'm typically not a good sleeper the night before a big trip. I've got everything packed. You know, important stuff like malaria pills and bug spray. I went to walmart last night and bought a webcam, so it looks like i'll be able to 'skype' with the family while I am there, we'll see. If you have skype, send me your address and I'll try to call you. if you want to email me while I am there, use krachunis at gmail.com (you'll have to type that into your email program)

What I am reminded of most today is the scripture from Matthew 28: therefore go! Its not easy to go, its so counter-cultural to leave where we are at to go somewhere that we've never been to minister to someone we've never met. But somehow, in God's infinate wisdom he knew that missions are important to the people that will recieve the word, and to those who are willing to go.

I'm excited to see how He will move on this trip. Please pray for Pastor Ong, Corb and I. Pray for the people in Ghana.

We leave from SeaTac today at about 1255. Pray for a safe trip.

Much love to you all. keep looking for updates -matt

OK So its sinking in.

I'm going to Ghana in 2 weeks. Its sinking in a bit. Since I was deployed twice while in the Army, it kinda feels like that. Maybe a little PTSD or something. Last time I left my family is was for a year in Egypt. I know it wont be that long, I guess what makes this so different is that I wont have my M16 or the might of the US Military in my back pocket. The good news is that I have the creator of the Universe on my side. I've got John 3:16 which packs a much bigger wallop.

Its going to be good. God is going to use this as a defining moment in my life I'm sure.

Its kinda like that quote from the movie Armageddon when Owen Wilson is about to be launched into space. He says something like "its like I'm 90 percent excited and 10 percent scared, or maybe its the other way around.. I guess thats what makes it so intense!". I'm not sure which is which, but I am feeling it at this point.

More to come. Pray for Corb, Pastor Ong and I as we travel.

much love
matt